Strings attached: Local business provides 25 free violins to Macomber School

Monday

Mar 4, 2013 at 12:01 AMMar 4, 2013 at 9:09 AM

WESTPORT — Mondays at the Alice A. Macomber School are about to get a little noisy.

MATT CAMARA

WESTPORT — Mondays at the Alice A. Macomber School are about to get a little noisy.

A donation from a local business put 25 brand-new violins into the hands of Macomber's 120 kindergartners Friday afternoon, and now Mondays will be chock full of fiddle lessons for the next 10 weeks, Macomber Principal Julianna Pasetto said.

"This violin donation has allowed us to expand the music component of our integrated arts program," Pasetto said, referring to Macomber's emphasis on visual and performing arts. "It allows them to experience music."

Westport Violin Shop owner Dan Avedikian agreed to loan out the violins at no cost to the school after a group of arts-focused parents said they would put up the money to bring in a music teacher.

That teacher, long-time arts instructor Megan Thomas, started exposing the school's kindergartners to music last week, but today will be their first time holding the violins, she said.

The mite-sized instruments are geared toward children, and students will start by learning how to play "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," Thomas said.

Giving students access to the violins also "levels the playing field," she said, adding that private lessons could run parents $1,900 annually, leaving many parents unable to afford them.

"Music is always one of the first things to get cut," she said.

The violins will be kept at the school and handed out to students as they rotate into the lessons 25 at a time.

Thomas' classes will perform together at Macomber's annual arts show in May.

Avedikian, who also owns the Worcester Violin Shop, said the violins would have cost about $72 each for a year-long rental. The violins are only on loan to Macomber, but Avedikian said extending the free rentals beyond this year is certainly possible.

"They will eventually come back to us, but I'd be willing to let them do this again next year," Avedikian said. "This is a good age to start playing."